Friday, April 21, 2017

Author Bob Beane talks about his latest book by Stephen Signor

Robert
“Bob” Beane has lived doing rescue work, both at sea and in the city of Portland
Maine, as a firefighter. Today he is a Reiki master, a shamanic practitioner
and is in integrative, holistic health care. As a shaman, he is a student of
the spiritual belief systems of all indigenous cultures around the globe. But
it was his new book, “Welcome to the Zoo” that drew attention to the Windham
Public Library last Wednesday. Folks listened intently about his experiences as
a firefighter for the Portland Fired Department (PFD)

Author, Bob Beane

In his book, he breaks down the sequence of escalating
fire alarms, from still-alarms to the general alarm. “That is how the system
works and it works well,” shared Beane. From 1999 to 2000 Beane was part of the
maintenance crew at St. Josephs College where his responsibilities quickly
evolved from grounds keeping to learning with electricians about alarms and
fire detection systems. It was working on the campus that planted the seed for
writing his book. “There was a gentleman I would see, and after glances of
mutual recognition, [I] came to find out he was a news reporter who had been at
some of the fires I was at. One day over a cup of coffee, while swapping stories,
he told me that with all those stories I have in my memory if I didn’t write
them down, when I die they are gone. That was my catalyst.”

The book took five years to write, due to not knowing
what or what not to write. “I would work on it a little bit and walk away from
it; come back a little while later and work on it. I kept doing that,”
explained Beane. Covering a span from 1967 to 1989 with the PFD there were so
many instances, so many experiences, good and bad, that it took time to narrow
down what meant the most and what affected him the most.

To this end he shared his first real experience; it
happened not long after being hired by the department. “The first rescue I did
was when I had only been on the job two weeks. I was asked to go inside to the
second floor, where flames and smoke were billowing out and do a search.” What
he found was an elderly gentleman in his 80s looking dazed and confused. “I
took him by the hand and led him outside to safety. That was my first save,”
said Beane.

He also talked about the men he was associated with over
the years within the department. “I consider myself so fortunate today, that
there were 320 men on the PFD when I went on the job. About 90 percent of them
were WWII veterans. They took me under their wings and taught me.”

Now retired as a lieutenant for the PFD, and having spent
time in the military, he finds that somewhat of comparison to firefighting.
“You’re fighting a different enemy and using different tools,” explained Beane.
Standing through the entire talk behind a table adorned with examples of firefighting
gear, he was quick to point out one item in particular. It was not only his hat,
but the round metal pin that was attached. “See what that says? It says welcome
to zoo”.He is often asked exactly what
that means a he always answers by pointing to the side of his head. “Inside
here, that’s where the animals hang out; it’s also the title of my book.”

All of this seems to have led to his other passion, that
of a holistic practitioner or Holistic Healing Spiritualist; which means to
Beane, “I believe in practices that [believe] every living thing has a spirit.
A shamanism is is a human system that has come down to us from indigenous
cultures around the world. It’s a healing system that has been around for over
50,000 years.”

Beane’s skills were acquired through training in Usui,
Karuna and Lightarian Reiki along with 70 years of what he calls, “life
school”; observing and participating in the human condition.

Currently he is
working with veterans and those who have developed some kind of cancer.

When he is not practicing the craft of healing, he is
working on an idea for what would be a third book. This one is a murder mystery
with a touch of romance. Asked if it was more than an idea and actually in the
works Beane simply replied, “Yes. It’s on my computer.” Will this one take five
years to complete? “No,” he replied with a chuckle.